A weak jobs report kicked the pins out from under the prices of crude oil and gasoline futures, and an attempt to push retail gasoline prices higher fizzled this week.

Retail prices jumped up early in the week into the $3.89 range, but that didn’t hold. Prices dropped quickly in mid-Michigan’s more competitive markets. Even in the less-competitive counties, prices dropped by the end of the week to about where they were the week before.

The price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped $4.53 for the week to close at $92.70. Gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which appear to have a direct impact on retail prices across the country, dropped a substantial 25 cents to $2.86 a gallon Friday.

That drop, if it holds and is reflected in wholesale prices, will open up retailers’ margins that had been squeezed by early-spring wholesale price increases. It’s likely to be reflected eventually in retail prices, but that usually takes a while.

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Around mid-Michigan Friday afternoon, countywide average prices looked like this:

• Clare: $3.69, down 7 cents over seven days;

• Gratiot: $3.70, down 3 cents from last week;

• Isabella: $3.80, up 4 cents from the week before;

• Mecosta: $3.78, down a penny over a week;

• Midland: $3.75, up 3 cents from last week;

• Montcalm: $3.76, up 8 cents from last Friday.

• Lowest reported prices in region: Clare, $3.69

• Highest prices in region: Midland, $3.89

• Lowest prices in state: Westland, $3.29

• Highest prices in state: Romulus, $4.19

• Statewide average Friday: $3.74, up 1 cent this week

• Year ago: $3.99

• Lowest metro-area average: Marquette, $3.62

• Highest metro-area average: Jackson, $3.80

• Lowest Mid-Michigan diesel price: Alma, Ithaca, $3.85

• Highest Mid-Michigan diesel price: Edmore, $4.15

• Statewide diesel average: $4.06, up a penny from last week. A year ago, diesel fuel sold for an average of $4.19 a gallon.

(Sources: Michigangasprices.com; Oil Price Information Service through Michigan AAA and Wright Express; additional research by TheMorningSun.com. Get the latest gas prices in mid-Michigan 24 hours a day at TheMorningSun.com/gasbuddy.)